March 16-22 is National Poison Prevention Week

“Children Act Fast...So Do Poisons!”

Poison control centers in the United States receive 1.3 million calls each year as a result of accidental poisoning of children ages 5 and under. Each year, about 68,000 kids in that age group are treated in emergency rooms for poisoning, and more than 50 die. Nearly 90 percent of these toxic exposures occur in the home. The Kansas Poison Control Center and Safe Kids Kansas are partnering in observance of National Poison Prevention Week, March 16-22, to remind everyone that “Children Act Fast…So Do Poisons.”

The Kansas Poison Control Center in Kansas City received over 22,000 reports of poison exposures in 2007. Of these, 65 percent involved children ages 5 and under. In 2007, the most frequent causes of poisonings reported to the Kansas Poison Control Center in children ages 5 and under were cosmetic/personal care products, household cleaning substances, analgesics, and topical medications.

“It doesn’t take much to make a small child sick ,” said Jan Stegelman, coordinator of Safe Kids Kansas. “Kids have faster metabolisms than adults, and anything they ingest will be absorbed into the bloodstream very quickly.”

Child-resistant packaging is credited with saving hundreds of children’s lives since its introduction in the 1970s, and childhood lead poisoning declined by 80 percent in the 15 years after unleaded gasoline and paint became industry standards. Still, there is no substitute for active supervision and childproofing. “If a product label says ‘keep out of reach of children,’ there’s a reason,” said Stegelman. “Keep it up high and in a locked cabinet.”

Keep the Poison Control Center hotline number beside every phone in your home and program it into your cell phone. Follow the center’s instructions. Do not induce vomiting or give the child any fluid or medication unless directed by the Poison Control Center.

Poison Control Center
National Toll-Free Number – 1-800-222-1222
This number will connect you directly to your local poison control center.

Call 9-1-1, not poison control, if a child is choking , having trouble breathing, or having a seizure. Do not induce vomiting or give the child any fluid or medication unless directed.

Safe Kids Kansas and the Kansas Poison Control Center offer these prevention tips:

Store medications and any potentially harmful products in their original containers with their original labeling, out of reach of children. Don’t leave medicine in your purse and don’t put it on a kitchen or bedside table. U nneeded or expired prescription drugs should be taken out of their original containers, mixed with water and an undesirable substance such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter and thrown in the trash.

Don’t refer to medicine or vitamins as candy . Children should not think of therapeutic substances as treats. When you are administering medicine to your children, follow dosage directions carefully.

If your home was built before 1978, test your children for lead exposure and inspect your home for lead paint. An estimated 6,400 Kansas children under the age of six have elevated blood lead levels from ingesting dust from deteriorating lead-based paint and other sources of lead. Frequently wash children’s hands and faces, as well as toys and pacifiers to reduce the risk of ingesting lead-contaminated dust. More importantly, have you children tested for lead poisoning at 12 and 24 months of age. For more information contact the Kansas Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention Program toll free at 1-866-865-3233 or www.kshealthyhomes.org .

Install a carbon monoxide detector in every sleeping area. Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless gas that builds up around fuel-burning appliances — and cars in garages — and is present in tobacco smoke. It can make a child seriously ill in concentrations that would barely affect an adult.

Stay alert while using cleaning products or other potentially harmful substances. A child can be poisoned in a matter of seconds. Never leave kids alone with an open container of something you wouldn’t want them to ingest.

Learn which plants are poisonous . Keep poisonous houseplants out of reach, and teach children not to put any part of an outdoor plant in their mouths without adult supervision.

Discuss these precautions with grandparents and relatives . Grandparents may have medications that can be very dangerous to children, and their homes and purses might not be as well childproofed as yours.

Parents should educate themselves about inhalants and “huffing” . One in five students in America has used an inhalant to get high by the time he or she reaches the eighth grade. Many parents don't know that inhalants - cheap, legal and accessible products, are as popular among middle school students as marijuana. Even fewer know the deadly effects the poisons in these products have on the brain and body when they are inhaled or "huffed." It's like playing Russian roulette. The user can die the 1st, 10th or 100th time a product is misused as an inhalant.

Learn CPR. In less than three hours, you can learn effective interventions that can give a fighting chance to a child whose breathing and heartbeat have stopped.